BM3 Battle #08 - Acapella-GO! (Deadline 20th of May - Brambos Perforator Prize)

edited May 2018 in BeatMakers Showcase

This battle is going to be a remix free-for-all.

Mostly. Create a remix, or do something totally different, with this acapella.

Alicia Keys - Butterflyz (click me)

Original tune:

I downloaded this acapella from Acapellas4U. I assume you must not use this in a commercial work unless you obtain rights to do so. Sign up at this site and donate to them (optional). Maybe some day they'll have the money to improve the site!

Rules:

  • -Use the acapella - it should be obviously featured. You don't have to make a remix with the full original lyrics, but you can't just use her voice to make a synth and have no other vocal parts included. Use them embellishments! ooh-ooh-oooooh
  • -Break it down - you've got to have a break down in your track. You've got to cut it down to the absolute minimum and build it back up. "and now it's time for a breakdown. neeeva gonna get it neva gonna get it"
  • -Keep it radio - time limit: 3.5 minutes. Don't go over.
  • -BeatMaker 3 Only - don't make your tune in some other program. Produce it in BM3. You can get your other sounds from anywhere but produce the track in BM3.
Tagged:
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Comments

  • Cool. Remix time. :)

    Thanks Ronji

  • I'm so excited for this battle!

  • What a beautiful song. What a talent. What a challenge to do it justice

  • That website is awful. Has anyone found a way of saving the mp3 using an ipad. i've failed to transfer it from my browser to Audioshare or dropbox using both chrome and safari.

    I might have to switch to desktop for this one ;)

  • @tk32 said:
    That website is awful. Has anyone found a way of saving the mp3 using an ipad. i've failed to transfer it from my browser to Audioshare or dropbox using both chrome and safari.

    I might have to switch to desktop for this one ;)

    @ronji put in a dropbox link 😉

  • Lol, didn't realise that was clickable. (These forums really need to highlight external links better, perhaps with a small arrow icon)

    Thanks Ronji

  • I'll... try... 🤮 Have forever to mangle it at least!

  • @starpause Hahaha what you got against Alicia Keys?! Glad you'll at least be giving it a shot. =)

  • Just not into her voice, guess I'm picky ;)

    But I love working with with vocals in general to make twisted business so yeah, decent fodder!

    I've been really loving this vocal AUv3...

    https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/voice-rack-fx-vocal-effects-processor/id950058913?mt=8

    But since I use it every track I was thinking about the anters one for some varriety

    https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/auto-tune-mobile/id647764727?mt=8

  • Where are the verses, lol? Is this song just one long ad lib?

    NM - that's why they call it a challenge!!

  • Is it a good idea to post the original key and BPM in the first post maybe ?

  • edited April 2018

    According to songkeybpm.com/Search?q=Alicia+keys+butterflies this one is

    D flat minor / 156 bpm

    Here are the main chords used:

  • Aargh. Do I soldier on with my Bank Bank track from the last battle or switch to this?? (Maybe I can combine them!)

  • edited April 2018

    I take back any criticism I made about the vocals earlier — my track is already coming together nicely ;)

  • @tk32 thanks for sharing that key, bpm, and chord info! The Acapellas4U site lists the bpm at 75, which is close to half 156, and they list the song in key of B major. Curious if anyone can confirm which info is more accurate? Beatport shows even more different info (bpm 106, key C sharp minor, granted that's the same as D flat minor right?). I'm not strong at music theory at all, so I'd just be going at it by ear.

    @GusGranite I want to say you should try and finish your bank bank track, and also work on a track for this battle, but I really don't care if people work this acapella into something they've already started! I mean, you haven't released the bank bank track yet, so I say why not, if it works. =) You might have enough time to do both, though.

  • @ronji nah, just joking about combining them. That wouldn’t be playing by the rules. Bank track is on hold, I’m gonna get this acapella one done!

  • 156-158 is kinda feeling right, but I'm not sure this sticks to a steady tempo, so best place your slices strategically. also, sometimes to get the right vibe it helps to slice to pads and then adjust the tempo of some slices to be slightly slower or faster, which I did in my xmas battle tune.

  • edited April 2018

    Listening to the original song (with backing track), you can either treat the tempo as 156bpm or half that, at 78bpm. Though I wouldn't say you are strictly limited to these values, as it's quite easy to stretch and transpose nowadays.

    As for the key, it's definitely D flat / C # minor (same thing).

  • @ronji said:
    156-158 is kinda feeling right, but I'm not sure this sticks to a steady tempo, so best place your slices strategically. also, sometimes to get the right vibe it helps to slice to pads and then adjust the tempo of some slices to be slightly slower or faster, which I did in my xmas battle tune.

    Just wanted to quickly say this technique only works if you slice to pads

    I have a tendency to prefer slice to layers as this makes it really ready to tweak later on.. however when you do this you can only tune the whole waveform (rather than per slice)

  • edited April 2018

    You can adjust tune on each layer individually with slice to layers too ?
    Just select the samples in the sample/layer list.

  • Yeah, slice to multiple layers would allow you to manage each layer, while slice to single layer would of course not. Curious what’s the use case when slicing a sample to layers? How does it work and make it really ready to tweak later on? I’m having trouble thinking of why you’d slice this acapella to layers, for example. Would you then need to map the layers to specific keys?

  • edited April 2018

    No when you slice to layers it gives you a start key, its already mapped to notes, the only advantage is it all remains in one pad, so you can arrange it all via the piano roll, i always prefer slice to pads if possible.

  • Ah, see I have started using slice mode on a single pad, without saving the slices out, and it still lets you use the keys in piano roll, and lets you use the same AHDSR and fade options. I guess I can see slicing to layers can give some other options, though. Still unsure what the main pros and cons are. I might try messing around with those different "slice to" options.

  • Slice to layers kills the slice markers in slice mode. When you slice to pads, you can still go back into slice mode on all of the pads and adjust the slices to then reslice to pads again.

  • edited April 2018

    Sorry - I caused confusion with an error in my previous post,

    I don't use slice to pads OR slice to layers... what I meant to say was that I mark the slices and then just play/sequence them chromatically (1 pad/ 1 layer). I always keep the original waveform intact, that way I can tweak the slices and timing at any point, and it avoid making uneccessary extra audio files. The only major drawback is that almost everything you can control or automate affects all slices the same - but this can be an advantage, ie for AHDSR envelopes, easy whole loop tuning, pitch shift etc..

  • edited April 2018

    Btw, here's the sheet music for the track:

    (PDF attached below)

    I am also working on sourcing a midi file too, but these all seem to be stored behind paywalls :/

  • Awesome, thanks @tk32 =) I'm sure that will come in handy for someone. Me, I can't read it, but I'm really intrigued by the background, like what does it say at the top of the second to last page? "why do ... sad." ?

  • I can read sheet music, but I can't see the bit you are referring to (I can't even see the word 'sad' on any of the 8 pages!)

  • Looking at that makes me feel quite dizzy lol.

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